A plan to kill up to 80 hippos descended from animals Pablo Escobar brought into the country in the 1980s has been approved in Colombia, The Guardian reports.
Previous attempts to control the population have been expensive and unsuccessful, Environment Minister Irene Vélez says.
"If we don't do this, we won't be able to control the population," she says.
Colombia is the only country outside Africa with a wild hippopotamus population, descended entirely from four animals Escobar imported when he built a private zoo.
A study by the Universidad Nacional de Colombia estimated the country's wild hippopotamus population at around 170 animals in 2022.
